


"Gold's Kitchen" part seventeen

by mrgoldsdearie



Series: "Gold's Kitchen" [18]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Once Upon a Time Fusion, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-09
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-06 21:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3149318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrgoldsdearie/pseuds/mrgoldsdearie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hell’s Kitchen: AU - Belle returns from Las Vegas a little freaked out and also makes a small deal with the members of her team. Chef Gold opens Hell’s Kitchen for the last time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"Gold's Kitchen" part seventeen

**Author's Note:**

> I get sadder the closer this fic get to the end.

When Belle and her team return to the dorms of Hell’s Kitchen, she drops her bags at the entrance and rushes to the bathroom for a shower.

"What’s her problem?" Jafar asks, almost disgusted.

Neal just shrugs his shoulders and goes to the couch, falling back comfortably into it’s cushions.

After almost a fifteen minute shower, Belle steps out of the bathroom, refreshed and ready to lead her team.

Jafar turns to her in his seat. “We should get started if you’re planning on winning this thing,” he states with a heavy sigh.

"Can we at least have a moment. Belle said we can settle in before getting to work," Neal replies.

"I don’t need to take a moment. If I had made it to the final two, your ass would not be sleeping tonight."

"Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t." Neal kicks his legs up on the table.

Belle stares at them speechless. This situation is almost exactly like the dream she had on the plane.

"She maybe okay with this loafing around, but I’m not." Jafar looks at her with an expression that could kill.

"Why are you gawking at me like that?" she mutters.

"You need to get your team together and by the looks of things, it’s already going to shit," Jafar states.

"Just leave her alone. She wouldn’t be here if the chef didn’t think she was a good leader. Why don’t you take this moment to relax, before we have to get to work," Neal comments.

"I’m still baffled by how she ever made it this far in the competition, but she’s the chef, and I must follow the chain of command in the kitchen…" Jafar rambles on and on, but Belle tunes him out. He’s saying the same ridiculous speech he said in her dream. When he walks out of the room, the phone rings and Neal answers it.

 

"Belle? Hey Belle !"

"What?" She flinches.

"Are you okay?" Neal asked concerned.

"Yes, yes I’m fine," she quickly replies. "Just a bit of deja vu."

"Really?"

"Yes. It’s just strange, that’s all." Belle steps away from the bathroom and sits on the couch.

"You might not want to sit. That was the chef on the phone, he wants to see you."

Belle’s eyes widen. It’s unbelievable how her real life is playing out like her dream. She thinks this competition maybe driving her mad.

"Umm, Belle? You don’t want to keep the chef waiting."

"Okay." She takes a deep breath. "I’m going to be right back." If the meeting in Chef Gold’s office is anything like her dream, she is not going to give into him. "This shouldn’t take long. Tell Jafar to be ready to work when I come back."

"No problem, Belle." Neal smiles at her.

Belle stands from the couch and leaves the dorm room, heading right to the chefs office. She stands outside of his office and timidly knocks on the door.

"Come here, dearie." He calls, repeating the exact words of her dream.

His words sends shivers down her spine. This entire scenario is eerie to her. She slowly opens the door, steps inside and her eyes fall onto Chef Gold sitting at his desk. “You wanted to see me,” her voice is small.

"Yes, I did." He looks up at her with a smile. "Come here, dearie."

She walks closer to the desk and he stands to meet her on the other side. He takes her hand and gazes into her eyes devotedly. “I was so proud of your performance today at Spinners.” He leans in to kiss her, but she turns away. Gold is confused as to why she would reject his affections. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

"We can’t do this, Rumple. I have to get to work on my menu."

"Do what?" Chef Gold is clueless.

"I love you, sweetie, but I don’t think now is the best time to play around."

"What?… Belle, I didn’t call you for that."

"You didn’t?" Belle is stunned.

"No, of course not. I know you have work to do. I just wanted to wish you luck and let you know how proud of you I am." He kisses her cheek. "What the hell made you think anything else?"

"Oh, thank goodness." She falls into his arms, relieved that he’s not trying to distract her. "I had this wild dream on the plane. Everything that happened to me up until this moment, was deja vu of that dream."

"Oh, sweetheart." Chef Gold holds her tighter. "Everything’s alright, don’t freak out just yet." He kisses the crown of her head. "Your emotions are just fucking with you."

"I know that now."

"Calm down, dearie." He massages the back of her neck.

"I will."

"I’m curious now. What happened in the office of your dream that had you so freaked out?"

Belle shakes her head and a small laugh escapes her lips. “We had sex, very wild and unprotected, sex. You called me away from my final preparations just to fuck.”

Chef Gold pulls away from her and arches his eyebrow. “Really?”

"Yes. I’m not complaining, the dream was amazing, but I should have known you would never take me away from something this important just to have sex." She rests her head on his shoulder. "I had to take a shower to relieve myself, as soon as I got back to the dorms."

"Relieve yourself?" Gold inquired, then gasps as it come to his mind what she meant. "You touched yourself in the shower? Oooh, dearie, such a bad girl." He smirks.

She picks her head up and defends herself. “I couldn’t help it. The dream was so vivid, it almost felt real.”

"You’ll have to tell me about it soon. Now, I’ll be thinking about you in the shower." He takes her hands. "Which one did you use?"

"Rumple." She blushes, a little embarrassed.

"I need to know."

She bites her bottom lip, slowly raising her right hand.

He takes her hand, brings it to his nose and breathes in deeply. “I can smell you, dearie.” he whispers and licks her finger.

"I shouldn’t have told you." She pulls her hand away from him. "I should be getting back." She giggles.

"Alright, sweetheart." He kisses her lips dotingly. "I hope you feel a lot better now."

"Yes, I do."

"Good." He leads her to the door. "I’ll be thinking about you on that shower."

"And I’ll be thinking about my menu and getting my team in order."

"That’s what I wanted to hear." He gives her one last kiss. "I’ll see you soon, my love."

She strokes her hand across his cheek, then leaves his office.

★★★

She returns to the dorm room and finds Neal and Jafar waiting for her. She picks up her bag from the entry and takes out her notes. Belle speaks with passion and leadership to the members of her team. She shares her menu, which consist of two appetizers, three main courses and two desserts. Surprisingly, everyone is in agreement of what she has. 

“I expected it to be a lot worse than this, intriguing.” Jafar cuts his eyes at Belle. He’s actually impressed, but doesn’t show his emotions.

“Thanks. I think that’s a compliment coming from you.”

“It wasn’t.”

“Well, I’m going it take it as one.”

“If you want to live in a delusion, who am I to stop you.” Jafar massages his temple, looking down at her notes. “If I were to make a few suggestions, this thing would be close to perfect.”

“I’m open to any suggestions, Jafar.”

“Good.” He gathers her notes and stands from the couch.

“Wait, where are you going?” Belle questions.

“I can’t work like this. I need to be alone to think.” He heads to the men’s bedroom. “You’ll have my suggestions in the morning.” He shuts the door behind him.

“Wow, do you think he’s going to be a problem? Considering, the reason he was sent home to begin with,” Neal addresses.

“I hope not, but its my kitchen and if he becomes a problem, I think I can handle it.”

“I believe you can, Belle.”

"You didn’t have any suggestions, did you?"

"No," he answers. "I thought the menu was perfect. 

"Thanks." She collects her bag and the remainder of her notes. "I’m going to go to bed early. I want to get an early start, before Mulan gets back. I’m starting to think, staying in Vegas is a disadvantage."

"That maybe true." Neal lays back in the couch and pulls the throw blanket over him. "Goodnight, Belle."

"You’re sleeping out here?"

"I’m not sleeping in there." He points back to the men’s bedroom.

"Oh, right. Well, goodnight."

"Night."

Belle steps inside her room for the night.

★★★

The sun rises on the morning of the final Hell’s Kitchen challenge and Belle wakes with the sun. She changes out of her pajamas and into her chefs jacket. All of the fear and awkwardness of yesterday has melted away. She’s ready to be serious and lead her team to take the win in the cooking competition.

She steps out of her room and Neal is still sleeping on the couch. She thinks he’s adorable, wrapped in his little blanket burrito, all snuggles up with a pillow in his arms. Belle doesn’t want to wake him, but she has no regrets in doing so. “Neal, wait up !” She pulls off his warm, plush blanket and exposes his body to the cold air of the lounge. Her eyes grow wide to the site. “Oh, shit !” Belle had no idea that Neal slept naked. “I’m sooo sorry.”

He looks up at her and grins. “No need for an apology. This isn’t the first time this has happened.” He casually sits up, rubbing his eyes.

She stands frozen, holding the blanket and her eyes slowly fall to his lap.

"Are you going to hand me that blanket or what? Cause, I don’t mind you looking, but I think your boyfriend might."

She hastily tosses the blanket at him and storms towards the kitchen. “I don’t have a boyfriend,” she shilled.

"You keep telling yourself that." He wraps the blanket around himself. "Well, I’m going to get dressed, then I’m all yours."

"Okay." Belle covers her face, looking away from him, as he enters the men’s bedroom. "Holly, hell," she thought, trying to erase that image from her mind.

"Eesh, I definitely didn’t miss that." Jafar rushes out of the room, clutching Belle’s notes, and sits on a stool at the bar. "You didn’t make coffee?"

"Well, good morning to you too," she sneers.

"No coffee?"

"I wasn’t planning on making coffee."

"You are in the kitchen. It’s the least you could do."

"Ugh, fine." Belle aggressively makes the coffee. How the hell did she get stuck with him? Oh, yea, she lost the gourmet burger challenge.

"Here." He plops her notes down on the counter. "My suggestions, as promised."

Belle looks over his suggestions and she’s actually astounded.

"As you can see, there are only slight subtle changes. I know your style is simple, but with my version of your menu, you can impacted more flavor on one’s palate."

"Wow, thank you, Jafar. I love it."

"No need to thank me. I just don’t want to walk out of this thing a loser." He turns away from her in his stool. "The coffee, Chef."

"Oh !" She finishes preparing the coffee. If he haven’t done such a terrific job on her menu, she wouldn’t continue making it.

"Oh, great coffee." Neal steps out of the bedroom fully clothed and takes the stool next to Jafar. "No breakfast?"

"What the hell, guys? I don’t work at a fucking diner." Belle snaps. "At least, not anymore."

"A couple of fried eggs with some bacon and coffee isn’t much," Neal replies.

"Ugh !" She feels like screaming at the top of her lungs, but she decides to use this situation to her advantage, so she calms. "Jafar, do you want breakfast too?"

He quickly turns to face her. “Yes, breakfast would be nice.”

"Okay guys, here’s the deal. I’ll make you breakfast, not just eggs and bacon, but a real fucking breakfast. And tonight, you work hard for me to win. No matter what problems we face, we do our best to work together and you listen to me every step."

"I was already planning on doing that, but, it’s a good deal to me," Neal agrees.

Jafar is offended that she would even make such a notion. “And what makes you think that I wouldn’t do everything I could to help you win?”

"Jafar, I trust your palate and your ideas. I adore what you’ve done to my menu, but your performances in the kitchen is an entirely different thing. You’re not a team player and I need insurance that you can be one tonight."

Jafar’s stomach growls, as he thinks. He really wants a hot fresh breakfast and could probably work on the team player thing, so he agrees. “Fine. I’m not saying that you’re right, but I’m hungry. So I agree to the terms.”

"Good. Let’s shake on it boys." She holds out her hand.

Neal grips her hand firmly and shakes it.

She holds her hand out to Jafar. He looks at her palm for a moment, then shakes it, wiping his hand on a napkin afterwards.

"Great. Belgian waffles, sausage, and scrambled eggs coming up." She pours them mugs of coffee, then starts on their breakfast.

After Belle cooks a delicious homemade breakfast and they eat it together as a team, Mulan and her team return from Las Vegas. They settle back into the dorms and after a few hours of catching up with each other, the phone rings for all the chefs to meet down in the kitchen. Chef Gold wants all the recipes tested and a few made for him to taste, while they prep for tonight’s final dinner service.

Chef Gold enters the kitchen, as Belle brings her last dish to the pass for his tasting. He smiles at her proudly, then straightens his face. They have to go back to hiding their affection. He steps to Mulan’s side of the kitchen and taste her dishes first

Mulan presents some of the dishes from her final menu to the chef. “I have an Asian American fusion menu. I’m keeping with my style of cooking, but more upscale. So, I have the first of my two starters, beef dumpling soup in a light and flavorful broth. The second is a spicy noodle salad. Next you’ll be moving on to my take on Chinese barbecue. It’s slow roasted pork and finished on the grill to give it some smoky flavor and brushed with my own char siu sauce. And lastly is my szechuan roasted chicken. I hope you enjoy them.”

"Everything you’ve made is quite lovely. You have a nice balance of flavors and it all works well together. Good job, Mulan."

"Thank you, Chef."

Now it’s Belle’s turn to present the chef with her menu. She stands tall and speaks proudly of her dishes. “I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone for some of these dishes. So, first I’ve made an Italian bruschetta as one of my appetizers. With homemade mozzarella, tomatoes, onions, balsamic vinegar, bacon and a few other ingredients. For my second appetizer I have sweet potato crisps, with an avocado garlic mayo, basically chips and dip. Next I have something very rustic and comforting, slow roasted lamb with saffron potatoes, there’s also a very nice broth served with it. Last is another rustic dish, sea bream with ratatouille. I really hope you love them, Chef.”

"Wow, this is excellent and the chips are a fun idea. Some of these really pack a lot of flavor to the palate. They’re not as simple as you usually like to go and I’m happy to see you taking risks. Wonderful job, dearie."

"Thank you, Chef."

"You’ve both made some interesting menu choices. The costumers will have a difficult time choosing. I didn’t expect to be this surprised. Both of you are very strong chefs."

"Thank you, Chef," the ladies reply.

"Go back to your kitchens and make your last preparations. We open the doors soon."

"Yes, Chef." They both re-enter their kitchens.

Chef Gold observe both kitchens, as Mulan and Belle prepare for the most important dinner service of their lives. Gold watches Belle a little more closely. She’s been extremely nervous lately, and as her boyfriend, he worries about her. He watches her movement and interaction with her team. And he’s relieved to see that she has more confidence than ever before. “Belle, two seconds,” he says as he walks behind her. He leads her back to the utility closet, opens the door for her and follows her inside. 

"Yes, Chef?"

He takes her hand and steps closer to her. “No matter what happens tonight, I need you to know that I love you.”

Belle looks down at their hand laced together and remembers the first time she held his in the office. She always hoped to make it this far in the competition, but what she didn’t expect, was to find love. She kisses his hand and rests it against her cheek. “I love you too, Rumple.”

"Let’s go, sweetheart." He opens the door for her again and follows her out. "Mulan, two seconds with you as well." Chef Gold pulls her to the side and wishes her luck, then calls all the chefs to the front of the kitchen. "This is the most important dinner service ever," he addresses the chefs. "I will be watching everyone and everything. I expect nothing but perfection."

"Yes, Chef," all of the chefs reply.

"At the end of the night, Mulan, Belle." He gazes over both of them. "One of you will be the winner of Hell’s Kitchen and the new head chef of my restaurant The Taste of Magic. I want to see you drive your brigade with passion and leadership."

"Yes, Chef."

"Now, to your fucking kitchens."

The chefs scatter to their stations.

Chef Gold turns to the dining room. “Archibald Hopper,” he calls.

"Yes, Chef Gold." He places down the glass he was polishing.

"Open up Hell’s Kitchen for the last time, dearie."


End file.
